How I Paid for the War

While proud to be an American taxpayer, I am not always pleased what my money pays for.

I paid $3,494 in federal taxes for 2002. Since 50 percent of that goes to the defense budget, quick calculations show that $1,747 of my taxes go toward waging war, possibly even weapons of mass destruction (U.S.A. version).

On the plus side: that piddling amount won’t buy any big items. It can pay for a couple rivets on an Abrams tank or one of those scarifying paint jobs on an A-10 Warthog. Might buy a rifle or a couple sidearms. I would like to think that my money went right into MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat) or, even better, medical supplies for Marines. Maybe some of those nifty playing-card decks identifying "Iraq’s Most Wanted."

My main concern is this: all our taxes, taken together, paid for this war. The tally thus far is $20-$40 billion, depending on whom you listen you. It goes up $2 billion each day, which will continue into the foreseeable future. How many taxes of how many middle-class families does it take to pay for one day of the war? Glad you asked: some 570,000 of us, more than the entire population of Wyoming, probably equal to the adult population of the Denver metro area.

We all paid for the missile that maimed "Little Ali" and killed his entire family. Just in case you missed it on Fox News, Ali is the little Iraqi boy with no arms and burns over his entire body. He is undergoing reconstructive surgery in London now, and says he wants to return to school and play ball again. This may be difficult, as his limbs were removed in a surgical strike by a smart missile financed by you and me.

The rest of my taxes go to the other 50 percent of the federal spending pie. According to the National Priorities Project, those other categories include education, foreign affairs, human services, science/energy, community development, environment, administration, housing , agriculture, and transportation.

It’s not entirely accurate but, if you divvy up the rest of my taxes equally among all these categories, each receives about $174. Let’s look first at education, one that’s close to my heart as I have two kids in school and I occasionally teach college English courses.

The cynic in me wonders if my tax money does good or ill at the U.S. Department of Education. It could pay for one day’s labor of a bureaucrat drafting still more standardized tests which take up more and more or my kids’ teachers valuable classroom time. Another part of me says that my $174 goes to a pretty good educational system that provides free K-12 education for all, whether ye be Christian, Muslim, atheist, or Zoroastrian. That’s not a meager accomplishment.

We get a good bargain in transportation. Sure, I hit a pothole now and again as I drive Wyoming’s roads. But just take a look at the interstate highway system. It’s a nice piece of work, one that can get me from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Orlando, Fla., in about three days. We thank Ike and his highway planners for coming up with a transportation system to rival Germany’s autobahns. It’s a system designed to speed military equipment rapidly across the U.S.in case of a national emergency, such as John Ashcroft discovering a nest a antiwar troublemakers in Wyoming.

In "science/energy:" I am happy to fund things as the genome project and the space program; not so pleased to be a funder of nuclear energy and gas-guzzling SUVs.

You get the picture. I am an American proud to pay his taxes, while remaining dubious, even angry, about some of its uses. Because I took civics classes in school, including "Americanism vs. Communism," I know that taxes are supposed to go toward the public weal, making our country a better and more prosperous place.

To that end, I admire the National Priorities Project. That organization has ideas on how to make better use of our taxes. It suggests we trim 15 percent from the Pentagon’s share of the budgetary pie. According to experts consulted by NPP, this could be done by cancelling Cold War weapons and the Star Wars Missile Defense System, also known as "Indication of Early Alzheimer's in Ronald Reagan." By doing this, we could pay for health insurance for all American kids ($6 billion, or three days of the Iraqi war) and rebuild America’s public schools over 10 years ($12 billion). It could also fully fund the time-tested Head Start Program and a host of other programs that focus on the public good.

On any given day, I would trade one nuke, a-mouldering in the ground outside Cheyenne, for one healthy child.